A ball court batch ball picking service machine

Abstract

The application provides a ball court batch ball picking service machine, and relates to the field of ball training instruments. The machine comprises a base, a walking mechanism, a ball picking and carrying integrated mechanism, a ball collecting container and a protective panel. The ball picking and carrying integrated mechanism comprises a ball picking tongue, a ball pushing and carrying guide strip, a conveyor belt device and a ball carrying cavity. The combination of the ball picking tongue and the ball pushing and carrying guide strip is arranged to effectively contact the combination structure when the current impact protective panel contacts the court edge obstacle, so as to complete the ball picking action even if the ball body is close to the court edge. The combination of the ball carrying cavity, the conveyor belt and the ball picking and carrying guide strip realizes the lossless and batch transportation of the picked ball body to the high-positioned ball basket. The ball picking service machine can not only be used in general scenes, but also can be used in scenes where a large number of edge-attached ball bodies need to be efficiently picked up, thereby realizing the efficient picking, transportation and collection of batch ball bodies.

Description

Technical Field

[0001] This application relates to the field of ball training equipment, and more particularly to a ball retrieval service machine for ball courts. Background Technology

[0002] In multi-ball training scenarios in tennis, a large number of balls are left on the court after training. This not only occupies training space and affects the continuity of subsequent training, but also requires a lot of manpower and time to pick up, significantly reducing training efficiency. Furthermore, the distribution of balls on the court has very distinct characteristics due to factors such as training methods (e.g., diagonal shot training), court edge barriers (e.g., edge deceleration nets, soft net curtains, or soft walls), and player habits (e.g., habitually pushing the ball close to the edge or net area during continuous training to avoid hindering player movement and hitting within the court). These factors indicate the types of balls that need to be picked up. The distribution of balls across the court is extremely uneven. A large number of balls are mainly distributed along the baseline edges, the side edges of the court, and the sides close to the center net. Nearly one-third or even more of the balls are right against the edges, creating a high density of balls close to the edges. This scenario is common due to the characteristics of tennis training methods and court facilities. These balls, located at the edges or even close to court obstacles, constitute the primary scenario for multi-ball training in tennis. This high-frequency and common multi-ball distribution also presents significant challenges to various efficient ball retrieval solutions. In addition, there are other challenges, such as handling 60-90 balls weighing 56.7-58.5 grams per batch, avoiding excessive friction damage due to the easily abrasive surface of the balls, ensuring that ball retrieval on hard courts and other vulnerable surfaces does not damage the ground, and accommodating the simultaneous retrieval of balls of different sizes.

[0003] Currently, existing ball-collecting equipment can be mainly divided into manual ball-collecting equipment and intelligent ball-collecting equipment. Manual ball-collecting equipment, such as the unpowered, manually pushed roller type, uses a rear roller to squeeze and rotate the ball to collect it. Because its ball-collecting structure is rear-mounted, balls near the edge cannot enter the collection area due to obstruction from the rear roller arm, requiring manual pushing to move them away from the edge. Furthermore, the limited lifting height of the roller restricts the capacity of the container to hold only a single layer of balls, resulting in low collection capacity and efficiency. Another example is the unpowered gap-pressing type, which uses a manual pressing device to squeeze the ball into a container through a fixed gap. This typically consists of a gap roller constructed with horizontal steel wires and a ball-collecting basket constructed with a plastic frame. However, due to structural obstructions around the gap, it is also impossible to directly press balls near the edge into the gap. Additionally, this device can only collect one or a few balls per press, resulting in low efficiency. Intelligent ball-collecting equipment typically achieves this through a specially designed powered ball-collecting and ball-transferring structure. For example, patent CN107019883A uses a front-end robotic arm combined with machine vision to simulate manual ball collection, pushing the balls one by one into the collection area. The system uses a conveyor belt with impellers to separate the spheres, which are then lifted to the upper outlet by the rotating conveyor belt. However, the front-mounted design of the robotic arm results in an excessive distance between the main body of the equipment (the inlet) and edge obstacles (such as wire mesh). This prevents the spheres near the edge from directly contacting the inlet, requiring the robotic arm to manually separate each sphere. This leads to extremely low efficiency in picking up large batches of spheres. Furthermore, the impeller separation design makes it difficult to precisely control the contact position between the impeller and the spheres when dealing with randomly arranged batches. This can easily cause the tip of the impeller to touch the upper part of the sphere, leading to conveyor belt jamming and motor burnout. Destruction, or the ball bursting or popping out, makes it difficult to achieve efficient mass ball picking. For example, patent CN110575653A uses an ultrasonic radar anti-collision + brush structure. The ball is swept into the ball-scoring hole by rotating the front brush, and the friction between the upper and lower brushes and the support plate is used to lift the ball. However, its front anti-collision design, which uses laser and ultrasonic radar, is limited by the need to maintain a safe distance from edge obstacles such as wire mesh. This makes it impossible to pick up balls that are close to the edge. Other methods of manual intervention are needed to solve the problem of ball picking in this high-frequency scenario.

[0004] It is evident that current technologies, due to their structural limitations, cannot directly handle large numbers of balls close to the edge, requiring the balls to be pre-positioned away from the edge, significantly reducing ball retrieval efficiency. However, this is a truly frequent and crucial functional and efficiency issue in multi-ball tennis training. Therefore, there is an urgent need for a new type of ball retrieval device that can not only pick up and transport balls in batches in general scenarios, but also efficiently pick up and transport large numbers of balls in scenarios with high ball density close to the edge. Utility Model Content

[0005] The purpose of this application is to provide a ball-collecting service machine for sports fields to solve the problems existing in the ball-collecting scenario in the background art.

[0006] The embodiments of this application can be implemented through the following technical solutions:

[0007] A ball-collecting service machine for sports fields includes a base, a walking mechanism mounted on the base, a ball-collecting and dribbling integrated mechanism connected to the base, a ball-collecting container located at the rear end of the ball-collecting and dribbling integrated mechanism, and a protective panel covering the outside of the ball-collecting and dribbling integrated mechanism. The ball-collecting and dribbling integrated mechanism includes a dribbling cavity that is angled to the base during operation, a conveyor belt device parallel to the dribbling cavity, ball-dispensing and dribbling barriers spaced along the conveyor belt's direction of operation, and a ball-collecting tongue located below the dribbling cavity and opposite to the ball-dispensing and dribbling barriers. The ball-collecting tongue and ball-dispensing and dribbling barriers are configured such that when the ball-dispensing and dribbling barriers contact a ball on the ground as the conveyor belt moves, the ball-collecting tongue simultaneously contacts the lower part of the ball, jointly completing the ball collection. When the front impact panel of the protective panel contacts a fixed obstacle on the field, the ball between the obstacle and the ball-collecting and dribbling integrated mechanism can simultaneously contact the ball-collecting tongue and ball-dispensing and dribbling barriers, or can simultaneously contact the conveyor belt surfaces on both sides of the ball-collecting tongue and barriers.

[0008] Furthermore, the horizontal distance between the foremost point of the front impact protection panel and the lowest point of the ball-handling and dribbling barrier is less than or equal to... The maximum straight-line distance from the upper surface of the ball-collecting tongue to the conveyor belt surface adjacent to it is less than or equal to The shortest straight-line distance is greater than or equal to dH 条 The vertical distance H between the lower surface of the ball-collecting tongue and the court surface 舌 Satisfies: Maximum distance is less than or equal to Minimum distance greater than or equal to The angle α between the line connecting the ball-collecting tongue's foremost contact point and the driven shaft of the conveyor belt device and the ground ranges from 45° to 85°.

[0009] Furthermore, the upper surface of the ball-collecting tongue is a quasi-arc surface, and the distance between the center of curvature of the quasi-arc surface and the central axis of the driven shaft does not exceed the radius of the driven shaft.

[0010] Furthermore, the ball-collecting tongue is made of an elastic material, and its upper surface can rebound a distance less than or equal to H when compressed by a ball. 条 .

[0011] Furthermore, the height H of the ball-handling and dribbling barrier... 条 The values ​​of satisfy:

[0012] Furthermore, the ball-picking and dribbling integrated mechanism also includes a rear support plate, a front support bar, and a side support plate; the rear support plate, the side support plate, and the conveyor belt surface close to and between the front support bar and the rear support plate together form a dribbling cavity for accommodating the dribbling of a batch of balls; the front support bar is located on the non-working surface side of the conveyor belt facing the rear support plate, and there is a gap D between it and the conveyor belt. 支 The D 支 satisfy: Used to support the conveyor belt ball from behind.

[0013] Furthermore, the front support bar includes a transverse support bar and a longitudinal support bar; and / or, the rear support plate, the front support bar, and the side surface of the side support plate near the dribbling cavity, the conveyor belt working surface, and the surface of the ball-pulling and dribbling stop bar are all smooth, low-friction surfaces.

[0014] Furthermore, the distance D between two adjacent dribbling barriers... 条 The values ​​of satisfy:

[0015] Furthermore, the ball-collecting service machine for the court also includes a ball-touching mechanism. This mechanism comprises a ball-touching sensing base positioned between the ball-collecting and dribbling integrated mechanism and the front impact protection panel; a ball-touching micro-motion delay switch located within the ball-touching sensing base; a ball-touching sensing rod slidably connected to the lower end of the ball-touching sensing base; and a ball-touching sleeve fitted onto the bottom end of the ball-touching sensing rod. When the ball-touching sleeve contacts the top of the ball on the ground, it can be raised and pass over the ball, causing the ball-touching sensing rod to slide upwards to activate the ball-touching micro-motion delay switch. The ball-touching mechanism is made of lightweight material. When the ball-touching mechanism is not in contact with the ball, the distance H between its lowest point and the ground is... 触 =d-(2~5)mm.

[0016] Furthermore, the ball-collecting service machine for the court also includes a folding support mechanism to enable the ball-collecting and ball-carrying integrated mechanism to be stacked or erected relative to the base. The folding support mechanism includes a support rod and a hinge. The two ends of the support rod are respectively connected to the base and the ball-collecting and ball-carrying integrated mechanism. The hinge is set at the connection between the base and the ball-collecting and ball-carrying integrated mechanism to achieve the hinge connection between the two.

[0017] The ball-collecting service machine for sports fields provided by the embodiments of this application has at least the following beneficial effects:

[0018] (1) The ball-picking service machine provided in this application can efficiently pick up and transport balls in batches for high-density edge-side ball scenarios. Through the matching design of the front impact protection panel, the ball-picking tongue and the ball-pushing and dribbling barrier, and the further limitation of the specific structural parameters of the picking structure composed of the ball-picking tongue and the ball-pushing and dribbling barrier at the front end, it can achieve batch, effective and efficient picking of edge-side balls. At the same time, during the picking process, the ball can enter the ball inlet through the same direction of the conveyor belt under moderate compression and pushing, avoiding excessive compression and excessive friction that could damage the equipment, the ball and surrounding objects. In addition, it can also be compatible with the picking of balls of different diameters.

[0019] (2) By coordinating the design of specific structural parameters of the conveying structure consisting of the support, the ball-carrying cavity and the conveyor belt device, this application can reduce the damage to the working structure of the ball surface caused by relative friction during the transport and lifting process. On the other hand, it can maintain appropriate compression of a large number of balls randomly arranged in the transverse and longitudinal directions, avoiding the problem of ball volume compression and stagnation in the ball-carrying cavity caused by different ball diameters. In addition, by adopting designs to reduce friction such as rolling forward and smooth contact surface, the load on the conveyor belt device can be reduced and the efficiency improved.

[0020] (3) Through the design of the ball contact mechanism, this application can control the conveyor belt device to start on demand and run for a specified time, which not only avoids the ineffective idling of the conveyor belt and reduces energy consumption and mechanical wear, but also ensures that all the sensed balls can enter the equipment smoothly and be transported to the ball collection container, significantly improving the ball picking efficiency and the degree of equipment automation.

[0021] (4) Through the design of the folding support mechanism, this application can flexibly adjust the ground clearance of key components according to the ground conditions of different sites, thereby achieving effective picking under different conditions, while better protecting the ground and key components. In addition, by adjusting the folding state, the overall center of gravity of the machine can be lowered and a higher ground clearance can be achieved, making it easier for the equipment to quickly complete the transfer.

[0022] (5) This application can also provide a variety of interactive scenarios. By combining control panels, touch screens, apps, etc., it is convenient for users to interact with and control the equipment. At the same time, it can also provide various extended services such as venue reservation, real-time venue information notification, and advertising push. Attached Figure Description

[0023] Figure 1 This diagram illustrates the distribution of balls in the perimeter of a standard tennis court and in multi-ball scenarios, particularly in the area near the edge. Darker colors indicate a higher probability of distribution.

[0024] Figure 2a A schematic diagram of an existing non-powered, manually pushed, roller-type ball-collecting device;

[0025] Figure 2b This is a schematic diagram of an existing non-powered, gap-feed ball-collecting device.

[0026] Figure 3 A schematic diagram of the overall structure of a ball-collecting service machine for a sports field, provided in an embodiment of this application;

[0027] Figure 4 This application provides a schematic diagram of the internal structure of a ball-collecting service machine for sports fields, as shown in the embodiments of this application.

[0028] Figure 5 An exploded view of a portion of the structure of a ball-collecting service machine for a sports field, provided as an embodiment of this application;

[0029] Figure 6 An exploded view of a ball-collecting and ball-carrying integrated mechanism for a ball-collecting service machine in a sports field, provided in an embodiment of this application;

[0030] Figure 7 This is a partially enlarged schematic diagram of the ball-picking and dribbling integrated mechanism;

[0031] Figure 8 for Figure 7 Enlarged view of circle A.

[0032] Numbers in the diagram

[0033] 1-Base, 2-Walking mechanism, 3-Ball pickup and dribbling integrated mechanism, 31-Ball pickup tongue, 32-Ball push and dribbling stop bar, 33-Conveyor belt device, 331-Drive motor, 332-Conveyor belt, 333-Active rotating shaft, 334-Driven rotating shaft, 34-Support part, 341-Rear support plate, 342-Front support bar, 3421-Transverse support bar, 3422-Longitudinal support bar, 343-Side support plate, 35-Dribbling cavity, 4-Ball collection container, 5-Protective panel, 51-Front impact protection panel, 52-Upper protection panel, 6-Ball contact mechanism, 61-Ball contact sensing base, 63-Ball contact sensing rod, 64-Ball contact sleeve, 7-Folding support mechanism; Detailed Implementation

[0034] The present application will now be further described based on preferred embodiments and with reference to the accompanying drawings.

[0035] Furthermore, for ease of understanding, various components on the drawings have been enlarged or reduced, but this is not intended to limit the scope of protection of this application.

[0036] Singular forms of words also include plural meanings, and vice versa.

[0037] In the description of the embodiments of this application, it should be noted that if terms such as "upper," "lower," "inner," or "outer" are used to indicate the orientation or positional relationship based on the orientation or positional relationship shown in the accompanying drawings, or the orientation or positional relationship commonly used when the product of this application is in use, they are only for the convenience of describing this application and simplifying the description, and do not indicate or imply that the device or element referred to must have a specific orientation, or be constructed and operated in a specific orientation, and therefore should not be construed as a limitation on this application. In addition, in the description of this application, in order to distinguish different units, the terms "first," "second," etc. are used in this specification, but these are not limited by the manufacturing order, nor should they be construed as indicating or implying relative importance. Their names may differ in the detailed description and claims of this application.

[0038] The vocabulary used in this specification is for illustrative purposes and is not intended to limit the scope of this application. It should also be noted that, unless otherwise expressly specified and limited, the terms "set," "connected," and "linked" should be interpreted broadly. For example, they can refer to a fixed connection, a detachable connection, or an integral connection; they can refer to a mechanical connection, a direct connection, or an indirect connection via an intermediate medium; or they can refer to the internal communication between two components. Those skilled in the art will understand the specific meaning of these terms in this application.

[0039] In this description, the forward direction of the equipment is taken as the front, and the position of other components is described based on this direction.

[0040] In this specification, d refers to the standard diameter of the sphere, and H... 条 The height of the ball-handling and dribbling barrier 32, D 条 H refers to the distance between two adjacent dribbling barriers. 触 The distance H between the lowest point of the finger-contact mechanism 6 and the ground when it is not in contact with the ball. 舌 α refers to the distance between the lower surface of the ball-collecting tongue 31 and the ground; α refers to the angle between the line connecting the foremost contact point of the ball-collecting tongue 31 and the axis of the driven rotating shaft 334 of the conveyor belt device 33, and the ground; D refers to the distance between the contact point of the ball-collecting tongue 31 and the axis of the driven rotating shaft 334 of the conveyor belt device 33, and the ground. 支 The distance between the front support bar 342 and the conveyor belt 332 on the side closest to it.

[0041] As described in the background section, after tennis multi-ball training, a large number of balls on the court appear as follows: Figure 1 The high-density edge-attached distribution shown in the image highlights the problem that traditional ball-picking equipment, due to structural design flaws, generally faces the difficulty of directly picking up balls attached to the edge or suffers from extremely low efficiency. Figure 2a The non-powered trolley-type device shown is limited by its rear wheel structure, which prevents it from contacting the edge ball, and must be manually removed beforehand. Figure 2bThe press-type device shown is inefficient because it is blocked by the surrounding structure of the gap and can only pick up a small number of balls with a single press. Similarly, the comparative documents CN107019883A and CN110575653A are also limited by their respective front-end robotic arms or anti-collision devices, and cannot achieve efficient batch picking of high-density edge-attached balls. Therefore, for the above-mentioned scenario characteristics of densely attached balls, how to enable the device to directly contact the edge-attached balls and achieve efficient batch picking of edge-attached balls has become the core breakthrough direction.

[0042] Combination Figures 3-8 As shown, this application proposes a ball-collecting service machine for sports fields, which includes a base 1, a walking mechanism 2, a ball-collecting and transporting integrated mechanism 3, a ball-collecting container 4, and a protective panel 5. The base 1 is a platform supporting the overall structure of the equipment; in some specific embodiments, it can be implemented using a metal frame structure, providing stable support for other mechanisms mounted on it. The walking mechanism 2 is mounted on the base 1 and is the power system driving the entire equipment. In some specific embodiments, it may include drive wheels, casters, a drive motor, a power supply, a controller, etc., working together to enable the entire equipment to move on the sports field. The ball-collecting and transporting integrated mechanism 3 is connected to the end of the base 1. During operation, the ball-collecting and transporting integrated mechanism 3 is tilted at a certain angle to the base 1, enabling it to pick up balls from the ground and transport them upwards to the ball-collecting container 4 connected to its rear end for storage. The protective panel 5 covers the outside of the ball-collecting and transporting integrated mechanism 3 to protect its internal components.

[0043] Among them, combined Figure 4 and Figure 6As shown, the ball-picking and dribbling integrated mechanism 3 includes a ball-picking tongue 31, a ball-dispatching and dribbling stop bar 32, a conveyor belt device 33, a support part 34, and a dribbling cavity 35. The dribbling cavity 35 has a certain width and is inclined at an angle to the base 1 during operation to accommodate a batch of balls being conveyed from its lower inlet to its upper outlet. The conveyor belt device 33 is arranged parallel to the dribbling cavity 35 on its front side. Specifically, the conveyor belt device 33 includes a drive motor 331, a drive shaft 333 connected to the output end of the drive motor 331, a driven shaft 334 opposite to the drive shaft 333, and a conveyor belt 332 sleeved on the drive shaft 333 and the driven shaft 334. The ball-dispatching and dribbling stop bar 32... 2. The components are spaced apart along the conveyor belt 332 in the direction of operation to cooperate in the process of picking up and transporting the ball; the support part 34 includes a rear support plate 341 parallel to the ball-driving cavity 35 and disposed on the side of the ball-driving cavity 35 away from the conveyor belt 332, and side support plates 343 disposed on the left and right sides of the ball-driving cavity 35. The rear support plate 341, the side support plates 343 and the conveyor belt 332 together form the ball-driving cavity 35; the ball-picking tongue 31 is connected to the lower end of the rear support plate 341, that is, it is located at the lower end of the ball-driving cavity 35 and is disposed opposite to the ball-pushing and ball-driving stop bar 32. The ball-picking tongue 31 and the ball-pushing and ball-driving stop bar 32 disposed opposite to it together constitute the ball-picking structure.

[0044] Furthermore, the ball-collecting tongue 31 and the ball-dribbling stop bar 32 are configured such that when the ball-dribbling stop bar 32 contacts the ball as the conveyor belt 332 rotates and the ball comes into contact with it, or when the surface of the conveyor belt 332 directly contacts the ball on the ground, the ball-collecting tongue 31 near the bottom of the ball simultaneously contacts the lower part of the ball on the ground. This multiple simultaneous contact and coordination between the ball and the ground, the ball-collecting tongue 31, the moving ball-dribbling stop bar 32, or the surface of the conveyor belt 332, collectively completes the ball collection; that is, during operation, the ball-dribbling stop bar 31... As the conveyor belt 332 rotates inward, it contacts one or more balls. At the same time, the lower part of the ball contacts the ball-collecting tongue 31. Under the action of the ball-pushing and dribbling stop 32, or the direct contact of the surface of the conveyor belt 332 with the ball, the ball rolls and rotates towards the dribbling cavity. It is then lifted off the ground by the ball-collecting tongue 31, completing the ball-collecting action. After being picked up, the ball enters the dribbling cavity 35. Then, under the action of the conveyor belt 332 and the ball-pushing and dribbling stop 32, the ball is transported and lifted upward in the dribbling cavity 35, and finally falls into the ball-collecting container 4.

[0045] In particular, through further coordinated design of the front impact protection panel 51, the ball-collecting tongue 31, and the ball-driving and dribbling barrier 32, this application enables the ball-collecting port to not only simultaneously collect multiple balls in general scenarios, but also simultaneously collect multiple balls laterally in close-contact scenarios. Specifically, the ball-collecting tongue 31 and the ball-dribbling and dribbling barrier 32 are configured such that when the front impact protection panel 51 of the protection panel 5 contacts an obstacle (such as a court net or crossbar), the ball between the edge of the obstacle and the device is positioned at the front impact protection panel. The impact protection panel 51 can simultaneously contact the ball-collecting tongue 31 and the ball-pushing and dribbling barrier 32. That is, this application sets the ball-collecting structure that can simultaneously contact the edge ball when the current impact protection panel 51 contacts the obstacle. At this time, the ball can simultaneously apply bottom lifting force (provided by the ball-collecting tongue 31) and lateral thrust (provided by the ball-pushing and dribbling barrier 32) to the edge ball to achieve effective pickup of the ball that is close to the edge of the obstacle. At the same time, the front impact protection panel 51 can prevent key structures of equipment such as the ball-collecting and dribbling integrated mechanism 3 from colliding with the blocking net.

[0046] Furthermore, by setting the distance between the foremost point of the front impact protection panel 51 and the lowest point of the ball-grabbing and dribbling barrier 32, it is ensured that when the front impact protection panel 51 directly contacts the edge railing or net structure of the court, the ball, even when completely against the edge, can be directly captured by the ball-grabbing and dribbling barrier 32 and the ball-collecting tongue 31. Specifically, the horizontal distance between the foremost point of the front impact protection panel 51 and the lowest point of the ball-grabbing and dribbling barrier 32 is less than or equal to... By setting the distance between the upper surface of the ball-collecting tongue 31 and the surface of the conveyor belt 332, it is possible to ensure that the ball-collecting opening has strong fault tolerance, allowing balls of different sizes to enter smoothly, while also ensuring that the ball-collecting tongue 31 and the ball-pushing and dribbling stop bar 32 reliably push in every ball approaching the ball-collecting opening, avoiding excessive compression of the ball that could cause damage or ejection. Specifically, the maximum straight-line distance from the upper surface of the ball-collecting tongue 31 to the surface of the conveyor belt 332 adjacent to it is less than or equal to... The shortest straight distance is greater than or equal to (dH) 条By setting the range of the angle α between the line connecting the ball-collecting tongue 31's foremost contact point and the axis of the driven rotating shaft 334 of the conveyor belt device 33, and the ground, the trajectory of the ball entering the device is optimized, preventing the angle from being too large or too small, thus affecting the scoring efficiency. Specifically, the range of the angle α is 45° to 85°. Further limiting the height of the ball-collecting tongue 31 avoids damage to the court surface (tennis courts include hard courts, clay courts, grass courts, etc., with hard courts being the most common; their surfaces are made of plastic or special elastic coatings, and these surface materials constitute a major part of the court's cost and are very fragile; therefore, the ball-collecting device must be able to collect the ball close to the ground without damaging the court surface), and also avoids it being too high off the ground, resulting in insufficient lifting force and inability to effectively collect balls close to the ground (tennis balls are heavy balls and require sufficient lifting force). Specifically, the vertical distance H between the lower surface of the ball-collecting tongue 31 and the court surface... 舌 Satisfies: Maximum distance is less than or equal to Minimum distance greater than or equal to Furthermore, through the synergistic effect of the above-mentioned parameter design, when the impact protection panel 51 contacts the court net, the ball at the edge of the net can simultaneously contact the ball-collecting tongue 31 and the ball-pushing and dribbling barrier 32. At this time, the ball makes simultaneous contact with the ground, the ball-collecting tongue 31, and the ball-pushing and dribbling barrier 32, respectively, thus achieving batch and effective pickup of balls close to the edge.

[0047] In some preferred embodiments, the upper surface of the ball-picking tongue 31 is configured as a quasi-arc surface, and the distance between the center of curvature of this quasi-arc surface and the central axis of the driven rotating shaft 334 does not exceed the radius of the driven rotating shaft 334. More preferably, the center of curvature of this arc surface coincides with the axis of the driven rotating shaft 334, so that the tangent direction at any point on the upper surface of the ball-picking tongue 31 is always consistent with the linear velocity direction of the surface of the conveyor belt 332, thereby realizing a smooth transition of the ball from picking up to conveying.

[0048] In some preferred embodiments, the ball-collecting tongue 31 is made of an elastic material, and its upper surface can rebound a distance less than or equal to H when pressed by a ball. 条 This ensures that when picking up the ball, the ball-picking tongue 31 and the ball-pushing and dribbling stop bar 32, or the ball-picking tongue 31 and the surface of the conveyor belt 332, simultaneously touch and squeeze the ball from the upper and lower sides, respectively. This ensures that the ball deforms appropriately to generate sufficient upward pushing force, but does not cause excessive compression that would overload the components. This allows the ball to generate an appropriate upward force under the action of the surface of the conveyor belt 332 and the ball-pushing and dribbling stop bar 32 during the movement, while also being supported by the bottom ball-picking tongue 31.

[0049] Furthermore, since tennis balls are relatively heavy (weighing 56.7–58.5 grams), the ball-collecting equipment must be able to handle the batch collection and transport of these heavier balls (requiring relatively greater force during ball collection and transport). The fiber-like structure of the tennis ball's surface, composed of synthetic fibers or wool, is a key factor determining its comfort, bounce, and other performance characteristics, and is a major difference between high-end and low-end tennis balls. Higher-end tennis balls often have a more pronounced fiber-like structure on their surface, using high-grade wool and are designed to be more prone to wear. Once this structure wears down to a certain extent, the tennis ball becomes unusable. Therefore, the ball-collecting equipment must avoid excessive wear on the ball's surface fiber-like structure to extend its lifespan. For example, the existing technology CN110575653A uses a brush structure to lift the ball, which is clearly only suitable for lightweight balls such as ping-pong balls. Increasing the brush hardness to accommodate heavier balls would undoubtedly exacerbate the damage to the fiber-like structure of the tennis ball's surface. Therefore, this application further improves the corresponding structure. In some preferred embodiments, the ball-handling and dribbling barrier 32 is made of an elastic material, and the height H of the ball-handling and dribbling barrier 32 is... 条 The value of satisfies The lateral width of the ball-handling and dribbling barrier 32 is the same as that of the conveyor belt 332. In some optional embodiments, the ball-handling and dribbling barrier 32 can be a continuous structure or a discontinuous structure with gaps in the middle. When there are gaps, the length of the gap is no greater than [missing information]. In some optional embodiments, the shape of the ball-pushing and dribbling baffle 32 can be trapezoidal, pointed, or other horizontal bar structures with a narrow upper section and a wide lower section. This design ensures reliable pickup of balls with varying diameters while avoiding excessive pressure and friction on the ball surface, thus preventing damage to the main working structure of the ball surface. Furthermore, it can cooperate with the ball-collecting tongue 31 so that upon contact, the ball, under the action of the ball-pushing and dribbling baffle 32, rolls counterclockwise towards the inside of the device, while the contact area between the ball and the ball-collecting tongue 31 remains essentially stationary. This reduces friction on the ball while applying moderate pressure, allowing the ball to roll into the inlet.

[0050] In addition, during daily tennis training, the diameter of the balls varies (about 5 mm) due to factors such as manufacturer, quality, and usage time. The diameter, volume, and pressure of children's training balls (red / orange / green balls) vary even more, so the ball retrieval equipment needs to be compatible with batches of balls of different diameters. Moreover, tennis balls are high-pressure spheres designed to withstand the powerful smashes and high-speed bounces of players. Therefore, when a large number of balls enter a space smaller than their diameter, the varying degrees of compression will result in significantly different levels of resistance. The aforementioned characteristics pose further challenges to the effective mass lifting of balls within the ball-carrying cavity. For example, in patent CN110575653A, a scheme that uses a single bottom support plate and an upper conveyor belt brush to lift a large number of tennis balls in batches through mutual friction, when a large number of balls enter in succession, a large number of balls will generate a huge reverse resistance force under the squeezing action, causing the conveyor belt brush side to be simultaneously lifted, thus greatly reducing the friction force. However, due to the different diameters of the balls, some smaller diameter balls will directly lose the squeezing force, causing a large number of balls to stop during the ball-carrying process and unable to continue to be transported and lifted upwards. In addition, due to the high elasticity of tennis balls, this huge reverse force will further load and damage the related drive device of the conveyor belt. To address this, in some preferred embodiments of this application, the support part 34 also includes a front support bar 342. The front support bar 342 is disposed on the non-working surface (i.e., non-ball-contacting surface) of the conveyor belt 332 near the rear support plate 341, and there is a gap D between the front support bar 342 and the conveyor belt 332. 支 The D 支 satisfy In some specific embodiments, the front support bar 342 is composed of a transverse support bar 3421 and a longitudinal support bar 3422, and can be made of high-strength and smooth-surfaced materials such as aluminum alloy. The front support bar 342 can ensure that it does not contact the conveyor belt, thus avoiding additional resistance that could affect the conveyor belt's efficiency or cause wear. On the other hand, it can also ensure that when a large number of balls enter the ball-carrying cavity 35 in batches, there is still sufficient and appropriate squeezing force to drive the batch of balls to continue to be conveyed and lifted, regardless of the transverse and longitudinal distribution of the balls of different diameters. This prevents excessive squeezing that could damage the conveyor belt device 33, the balls, the support part 34, and other related structures, and also prevents excessive load on the drive motor of the conveyor belt device 33 that could cause it to overload.

[0051] In some preferred embodiments, the surfaces of the rear support plate 341, the front support bar 342, and the side support plate 343 near the ball-driving cavity 35, the working surface (i.e., the ball-contacting surface) of the conveyor belt 332, and the surface of the ball-driving and ball-pushing baffle 32 are all smooth surfaces to further reduce friction and thus avoid damaging the surface working hair structure of the ball.

[0052] In some preferred embodiments, by setting the distance between adjacent ball-pushing and ball-driving barriers 32, it is possible to avoid situations where excessive distance causes ball compression, thus affecting the efficiency of picking up and conveying batches of balls, or where excessive distance causes excessive compression, leading to adverse consequences such as easy wear of balls, overload of the conveyor belt drive motor, and increased energy consumption. Specifically, the distance D between two adjacent ball-pushing and ball-driving barriers 32 is... 条 satisfy:

[0053] Furthermore, through the synergistic effect of the design of the above-mentioned transmission structure components, during the process of transmitting the ball from the inlet to the outlet, it is possible to maintain a moderate compression of a large number of balls that simultaneously enter the ball-carrying cavity 35 in both the lateral and longitudinal directions with minimal friction, while avoiding excessive damage to the surface structure of the ball.

[0054] In some preferred embodiments, such as Figure 4 and Figure 5 As shown, the ball-collecting service machine for the ball court in this application also includes a ball-touching mechanism 6. By setting the ball-touching mechanism 6, the conveyor belt device 33 can be controlled to start and run for a specified time as needed. This not only avoids the ineffective idling of the conveyor belt and reduces energy consumption and mechanical wear, but also ensures that all the sensed balls can smoothly enter the equipment and be transported to the ball collection container 4, significantly improving the ball-collecting efficiency and the degree of automation of the equipment. Specifically, the ball-contact mechanism 6 is located between the front impact protection panel 51 and the ball-collecting and dribbling integrated mechanism 3. It includes a ball-contact sensing base 61, a ball-contact micro-motion delay switch, a ball-contact sensing rod 63, and a ball-contact sleeve 64. The ball-contact sensing base 61 is fixedly connected between the front impact protection panel 51 and the ball-collecting and dribbling integrated mechanism 3. The ball-contact micro-motion delay switch is located inside the ball-contact sensing base 61. The ball-contact sensing rod 63 is a U-shaped structure composed of two longitudinal rods and one transverse rod. The ends of the two longitudinal rods are slidably connected to the bottom end of the ball-contact sensing base 61. The ball-contact sleeve 64 is movably fitted onto the transverse rod of the ball-contact sensing rod 63. When the ball-contact mechanism is not in contact with the ball, the distance H between its lowest point and the ground is... 触 =d-(2~5)mm, when the ball contact sleeve 64 touches the ball, it can roll relative to the ball contact sensing rod 63, and under the action of the ball, it drives the ball contact sensing rod 63 to slide upward and touch the ball contact micro-motion delay switch. The ball contact micro-motion delay switch can control the operation of the conveyor belt device 33. When it is triggered, it will start the conveyor belt device 33 and make it run for a specified period of time, ensuring that the ball touched during the period of time can enter the equipment and be conveyed and lifted into the ball collection container 4.

[0055] In some specific embodiments, the specified running time of the aforementioned ball-touching micro-motion delay switch can be adjusted according to the size of the device, the transmission distance, power, etc. In some preferred embodiments, the ball-touching mechanism 6 is made entirely of a lightweight material, such as carbon fiber or aluminum. When it encounters obstacles on the ground (such as the top of one or more balls, or other field obstacles), due to its lightweight nature, the ball-touching sensing rod 63 and the ball-touching sleeve 64 fitted onto it can be lifted upwards. In some preferred embodiments, the ball-touching sleeve 64 is lightweight and has a smooth surface, and can be made of materials such as aluminum or carbon fiber tubes. In this case, once it contacts the ball, it will not generate additional lateral thrust on the ball, but will instead lift upwards and roll past the ball, allowing the ball to enter the rear side of the ball-touching sensing rod 63.

[0056] In some preferred embodiments, the ball-collecting service machine of this application further includes a folding support mechanism 7 to enable the ball-collecting and dribbling integrated mechanism 3 to be stacked or erected relative to the base 1. Specifically, the folding support mechanism 7 includes a support rod and a hinge. The two ends of the support rod are respectively connected to the base 1 and the ball-collecting and dribbling integrated mechanism 3, and the hinge is disposed at the connection between the base 1 and the ball-collecting and dribbling integrated mechanism 3 to achieve the hinge connection between the two. When the equipment is working, the angle of inclination of the ball-picking and ball-carrying integrated mechanism 3 relative to the base 1 and the ground clearance of the ball-picking tongue 31 can be adjusted via the support rod. This allows for adjustments to the appropriate angle and height for different types of courts, such as dirt courts, grass courts, and hard courts. For example, when on uneven and gap-filled surfaces such as dirt courts and grass courts, a larger ground clearance is required to ensure normal operation of the equipment. Conversely, a lower ground clearance can be used on hard courts or relatively flat surfaces. When the equipment is not working and needs to be moved, since the surface may be a regular road, street, green space, or other non-court surface, the folding support mechanism 7 can be used to flatten the equipment onto the base 1. This lowers the overall center of gravity of the machine and provides a higher ground clearance, facilitating quick relocation by manual or automatic drive and minimizing damage to critical components.

[0057] In some preferred embodiments, the ball-collecting service machine of this application further includes an application interaction module, which can be set on the protective panel 5. In some specific embodiments, the application interaction module can be an information interaction and touch control screen, which can complete application services such as QR code subscription for ball-collecting service, reservation and use of other venues, venue operation service, competition organization, message and advertising notification.

[0058] In some specific embodiments, the ball-collecting service machine of this application also includes a control system, which is electrically connected to other mechanisms such as the walking mechanism 2 and the ball-collecting and carrying mechanism 3 to control the operation and stopping of the other mechanisms.

[0059] The specific embodiments of this application have been described in detail above. For those skilled in the art, several improvements and modifications can be made to this application without departing from the principle of this application, and these improvements and modifications also fall within the protection scope of the claims of this application.

Claims

1. A ball-collecting service machine for sports fields, comprising a base (1), a walking mechanism (2) mounted on the base (1), a ball-collecting and transporting integrated mechanism (3) connected to the base (1), a ball-collecting container (4) disposed at the rear end of the ball-collecting and transporting integrated mechanism (3), and a protective panel (5) covering the outside of the ball-collecting and transporting integrated mechanism (3), characterized in that: The ball-collecting and dribbling integrated mechanism (3) includes a dribbling cavity (35) that is inclined at an angle to the base (1) during operation, a conveyor belt device (33) that is parallel to the dribbling cavity (35), ball-dispensing and dribbling barriers (32) that are spaced apart on the conveyor belt (332) along the direction of the conveyor belt (332) and a ball-collecting tongue (31) that is located below the dribbling cavity (35) and opposite to the ball-dispensing and dribbling barriers (32); The ball-collecting tongue (31) and the ball-pushing and dribbling stop bar (32) are configured such that when the ball-pushing and dribbling stop bar (32) is in operation and comes into contact with the ball on the ground along with the conveyor belt (332), the ball-collecting tongue (31) simultaneously contacts the lower part of the ball to complete the ball collection together; when the front impact protection panel (51) of the protection panel (5) contacts the fixed obstacle on the field, the ball that is close to the obstacle and the ball-collecting and dribbling integrated mechanism (3) can simultaneously contact the ball-collecting tongue (31) and the ball-pushing and dribbling stop bar (32), or can simultaneously contact the surface of the conveyor belt (332) on both sides of the ball-collecting tongue (31) and the stop bar.

2. The ball-collecting service machine for sports fields according to claim 1, characterized in that, The horizontal distance between the foremost point of the front impact protection panel (51) and the lowest point of the ball-handling and dribbling barrier (32) is less than or equal to the distance between the foremost point of the front impact protection panel (51) and the lowest point of the ball-handling and dribbling barrier (32). The maximum straight-line distance from the upper surface of the ball-collecting tongue (31) to the surface of the conveyor belt (332) adjacent to it is less than or equal to The shortest straight-line distance is greater than or equal to dH 条 ; The vertical distance H between the lower surface of the ball-collecting tongue (31) and the court surface 舌 Satisfies: Maximum distance is less than or equal to Minimum distance greater than or equal to The angle α between the line connecting the ball-collecting tongue (31) at its foremost contact point and the axis of the driven rotating shaft (334) of the conveyor belt device (33) and the ground ranges from 45° to 85°.

3. The ball-collecting service machine for sports fields according to claim 2, characterized in that, The upper surface of the ball-collecting tongue (31) is an arc-shaped surface, and the distance between the center of curvature of the arc-shaped surface and the central axis of the driven rotating shaft (334) does not exceed the radius of the driven rotating shaft (334).

4. The ball-collecting service machine for sports fields according to claim 2, characterized in that, The ball-collecting tongue (31) is made of an elastic material, and its upper surface can rebound a distance less than or equal to H when squeezed by a ball. 条 .

5. The ball-collecting service machine for sports fields according to claim 2, characterized in that, The height H of the ball-handling and dribbling barrier (32) 条 The values ​​of satisfy:

6. The ball-collecting service machine for sports fields according to claim 1 or 2, characterized in that, The ball-picking and ball-carrying integrated mechanism (3) further includes a rear support plate (341), a front support bar (342), and a side support plate (343); the rear support plate (341), the side support plate (343), and the surface of the conveyor belt (332) close to the front support bar (342) and between the front support bar (342) and the rear support plate (341) together form a ball-carrying cavity (35) for accommodating the bulk ball transport; the front support bar (342) is disposed on the non-working surface side of the conveyor belt (332) facing the rear support plate (341), and there is a gap D between it and the conveyor belt (332). 支 The D 支 satisfy: Used to support the conveyor belt ball from behind.

7. The ball-collecting service machine for sports fields according to claim 6, characterized in that, The front support bar (342) includes a transverse support bar (3421) and a longitudinal support bar (3422); And / or, the surfaces of the rear support plate (341), the front support bar (342), and the side support plate (343) near the ball-driving cavity (35), the working surface of the conveyor belt (332), and the surfaces of the ball-driving and ball-driving baffle (32) are all smooth surfaces.

8. The ball-collecting service machine for sports fields according to claim 7, characterized in that, The distance D between two adjacent dribbling barriers (32) 条 The values ​​of satisfy:

9. The ball-collecting service machine for sports fields according to claim 1, characterized in that, It also includes a ball-touching mechanism (6), which includes a ball-touching sensing base (61) disposed between the ball-picking and ball-driving integrated mechanism (3) and the front impact protection panel (51), a ball-touching micro-motion delay switch disposed in the ball-touching sensing base (61), a ball-touching sensing rod (63) slidably connected to the lower end of the ball-touching sensing base (61), and a ball-touching sleeve (64) sleeved on the bottom end of the ball-touching sensing rod (63). When the ball-touching sleeve (64) contacts the top of the ball on the ground, it can be lifted and pass over the ball. During this process, the ball-touching sensing rod (63) is driven to slide upward to touch and activate the ball-touching micro-motion delay switch. The ball-contacting mechanism (6) is made of lightweight material; When the ball-contacting mechanism (6) is not in contact with the ball, the distance H between its lowest point and the ground is... 触 =d-(2~5)mm.

10. The ball-collecting service machine for sports fields according to claim 1, characterized in that, It also includes a folding support mechanism (7) to enable the ball-picking and dribbling integrated mechanism (3) to be stacked or erected relative to the base (1). The folding support mechanism (7) includes a support rod and a hinge. The two ends of the support rod are connected to the base (1) and the ball-picking and dribbling integrated mechanism (3) respectively. The hinge is set at the connection between the base (1) and the ball-picking and dribbling integrated mechanism (3) to enable the two to be hinged.

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